Chapter 1 - The Missing Shoe
Harlan Voss did not wait for my answer.
He stepped forward, his expensive leather shoes crunching against the frozen concrete of the parking garage.
A team of highly trained paramedics rushed past him from the second vehicle.
They instantly surrounded little Belle and lifted her onto a specialized medical stretcher with terrifying speed.
I stood up slowly, brushing the cold dirt from my cheap waitress uniform.
My hands were still shaking from the adrenaline and the freezing wind.
Harlan watched his daughter being loaded into the back of a mobile medical unit.
His face was an unreadable mask of absolute power and controlled violence.
He slowly turned his gaze back to me.
His dark eyes analyzed every single detail of my worn-out clothes and my exhausted face.
I felt like a bug under a magnifying glass, entirely at the mercy of a predator.
He asked me to explain exactly how I found her in the dark.
I told him I was just a broke waitress walking home because I missed my bus.
I explained that I heard her coughing behind a concrete pillar and tried to help.
Harlan listened to my entire story without blinking or changing his terrifying expression.
One of his massive bodyguards suddenly stepped out of the shadows.
The man was holding a small, shiny black shoe enclosed in a clear plastic evidence bag.
He walked up to Harlan and handed him the bag without saying a word.
Harlan stared at the shoe for a long moment before holding it up to the dim overhead light.
He asked me if I knew where his men had just found his daughter's missing shoe.
I shook my head, feeling a cold knot of dread forming in my stomach.
Harlan stepped closer, completely invading my personal space until I could smell his expensive cologne.
He told me his men found the shoe inside the locked office of the Meridian Theater manager.
He asked me why my boss was hiding evidence of his daughter's kidnapping.
Before I could even process the horrifying question, two men grabbed my arms from behind.
Harlan ordered his men to throw me into the back of his armored SUV.
I screamed and kicked, but they tossed me onto the leather seats like a ragdoll.
The heavy doors slammed shut, locking me inside the dark vehicle.
The driver immediately hit the gas, speeding out of the garage and into the night.
I looked out the tinted window and realized my nightmare was only just beginning.
My manager had intentionally kept me late tonight to ensure I would be the one walking through that garage.
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I was not a random savior, but a carefully selected pawn in a deadly game.
The armored SUV suddenly swerved as a massive explosion rocked the city streets behind us.
